Support us on PATREON: / retroblasting Find reproduction parts at www.thewarlends.com/ Michael repairs some long-broken parts on his childhood Cobra STUN from Hasbro in 1986! #RetroBlasting #GIJoeSTUN #toyrestoration #GIJoe
One of my hobbies is assembling and painting miniatures, the optimum way to fix the rear machine gun would be "pinning". Before applying your adhesive of choice use your pin vise to drill out a centered hole/channel in both the barrel and the mount and use a thin metal pin to reinforce the joint. The barrel length will remain the same as the original length, but it will be much stronger.
I used to do that on some of my Ral Partha Battletech miniatures. Putting the small rod in between the chest and legs to allow them to twist at the waist.
The Cobra STUN is one of my biggest GI Joe nostalgia pieces. I remember my grandparents giving it to me as a birthday present and have cherished that vehicle ever since 😁
I have that same brand of plastic weld and one thing Amazon reviews pointed out was to shake it vigorously before use. It works maybe 50% of the time I've tried it, but, as others have stated, it really depends on the type of plastic.
Great fix Michael. So many things that can break on the Stun. Might get those flags too for my Stun. The result in the end looks just fantastic. Cobra will be pleased.
Thanks for getting me interested in a forgotten toy. I had one in the bottom of the box of parts that I abandoned years ago. Today I just installed my new flags and put it on display!
Love these restoration videos. Reminds me of watching Blue Peter as a kid, seeing Anthea Turner make Tracy Island out of a couple of toilet rolls and some glue.
From what I’ve seen from Toy Polloi, yeah, plastic weld doesn’t work with all types of plastics. When he restored a Whirlwind he didn’t think it would work with the plastics of most Joe toys, so he just used superglue with LEGO. And I guess he’s right.
Yep. It's not going to work for every kind of plastics. Hasbro used cheaper quality plastics, and it doesn't seem to work all that well with a lot of them. It works better on the harder plastics.
Michaels microphone picks up that fragile hasbro plastic sound so perfectly. All the kenner star wars restoration videos inspired me to pull out all my childhood survivors and restore them... all went well.... I then attempted some of my hasbro GI Joe vehicle restorations lol... lets just say for me if it requires more than a good cleaning or replacing missing missiles or stickers I run the risk of breaking the whole toy. You can also tell when Michael does a kenner restore there are very few edits or cuts when attaching things... hasbro GI Joe.... edit city. You are far more patient and better at this than I will ever be!!
Forgive me if this has been said already, but Plastruct Plastic Weld (or anything advertised as "plastic cement") is almost always intended for use on *polystyrene* plastic (like plastic model kits and the styrene plastic components that Plastruct specializes in). It melts and fuses polystyrene permanently, but won't bond anything else. Plastic toys are made from a different kinds of plastic, and that flexible-but-still-fragile "glossy" plastic is definitely not polystyrene. Cyanoacrylate (super glue) is a better bet, but even that can't get a bite into the plastic sometimes and results in a fragile bond. Cyanoacrylate glue works GREAT as a permanent bond for PVC plastic, though! Awesome build, I love your restoration videos!
Glad you were able to restore this beauty back to her former glory. I always thought it was a cool vehicle. Like you said, it was definitely one of the last truly good ones we got before things got….weird. Thank you for another awesome share, Michael. Cheers!👍
I've got the Cobra STUN too. Great condition. My flags broke and vanished long ago. Recently, I saw a lot of GI Joe 3D printed parts show up on Ebay. Not all of us can get original parts. Not all of the original parts they sell out there are worth the asking price. If you can't get original parts, it should be noted (to all restoration fans) that you can get 3D printed parts and printed flags that look great for the STUN. They don't always bend (plastic used for 3D printing can be all over the map in quality), but they do look nice, and your vehicle looks complete on the shelf. Do check that out as an option if you need to. If you're already doing the 3D printing thing yourself, do us a favor and scan those parts into computer files, so we can make them too! YO JOE!
Very nicely done. I also restored an old broken down STUN that was an eBay find a few months ago. I put a set of the curved Warlends flags on mine and I can’t recommend them enough, but I had to replace the labels as well.
Great restoration Video. I still have my original STUN. I definitely be ordering some flags. I just need to find some access panels as both have fallen apart.
AS others have said Plasticweld is more for styrene, the plastic used by Hasbro was more brittle and lower quality. I have found that plastic Weld is one of the best out there, but it is very limited on what it is good at. Cool video!
Of all the types of videos you do, these are my favorite, Michael. Keep resurrecting these toys! Edit: Try Plastruct Bondene next time…it works on many more types of plastic than the standard Plastruct cement does, including ABS!
I had the same exact experience with the welder on 3 different objects. If it doesn't like the specific kind of plastic, it's like pure water. After using it 3 times, I noticed the bottle content went down by half, even with the safety cap (probably a leak and the product is very volatile). It went in the bin and I went back to superglue.
I love all the care and attention you use when you do the repairs. The Stun was one of my favorite Cobra vehicles(that I never had), and while like you I also preferred the more militaristic based vehicles but something about the Stun just spoke to me lol. Great video Michael!
as a Wee Lil Papallion i remember making my own flags when mine broke - i used coffee stirrers i stole from the donut table at church and i used nail polish the make them red i mad flags from a Lucky Charms box, and WAAAAAY too much hot glue to hold it in place it worked and as a kid i didnt care it was ugly - i had made something! my dad later took the hot glue off, im not sure how he got the flag base off, but he super glued the new flags in place and drew a Cobra logo on the flag
I have the Python Patrol version, and interestingly, I didn’t have a problem with the flags or machine gun, but two of the hubcaps broke. I wonder if the color of the plastic mattered.
Fantastic as always sir! Plastruct - been using it a lot on the Dino Riders with great results. However, just recently tried to fix a blue plastic chair... nothing! It must only be effective for certain plastics. I need to break out the o'l testers to try again. If I could, I would watch toy repair videos all day only to take a break to fix toys.
If you check an old GI Joburg video, they're 3D printing replacement parts, such as the rear firearm and the flags. That's what you seem to be doing, but I wanted to share this.
Thanks Michael! Too bad Warlends doesn't make other parts. My second-hand STUN also has broken engine cover tabs and wheel covers. That red plastic did not hold up well.
Great video! When you put that water glue on the barrel you could see the moment when you lined it up perfectly. Sad it didn't work. Now If only I can find some repo parts for my skystriker
Plastruct Plastic Weld, I was told, works best if you shake it thoroughly before using it. For that gun damage, though, I would get a tiny drill, hollow both ends, and glue a tiny metal or plastic rod/wire with superglue. If you can drill a hole small enough for the barrel part.
I painted python stun flags red about 15 years Ago lol. I could swear though that even then the red flags weren't quite as brittle as they are now. I remember it being kind of over night the red plastic becoming so brittle on stuns, I mean back in 99 when I got back into hardcore collecting of Gi-joe again sure flags were broken like all antennas could be but the red plastic was still good
Plastic Weld requires styrene based plastics. ABS plastic is immune to it and all solvent glues. So yes “you may as well be brushing water on ABS parts”. For ABS you have to use CA glues. Aka Super glue or “The Kraggle”. The trick for repairing gun barrels is a little more involved then simply gluing it. Invest in a Pin Vise. A small screw driver like hand drill with teeny tiny almost detail sized drill bits. You drill a small hole in each broken face of the barrel pieces. Insert a tiny bit of brass wire inside, then glue.
I wonder if the plastic weld toy polloi uses is different? I looked to buy the stuff he uses and it's not sold in the USA and the Plastic weld here is the alternative recommended and it didnt work for me either.
Good day Michael Thank you for the video. I’ve always enjoyed these restorations you do. I’m curious about this plastic weld. Toy Poloi uses it and makes it look so great. I’ve been thinking of using it cause I hate super glue. Peace
I also never had any luck with that plastic weld stuff. I know Toy Polloi says it works better on certain plastics, but it still seemed pretty useless to me.
One other area that I'd say is a potential break point is the post for the front wheel. I bought a Python Stun second hand and it had that wheel post breken. Wouldn't surprise me if the back wheel posts aren't the same way.
Pehaps you can use thin steelwire (about 1 mm thick) and "melt" into the core of the plastic rod of the flags (use a soldering iron to heat the steel wire) and then while the steel wire is still hot push the other plastic rod onto the steel wire?
you could have made needle sized hole in both the gun and gun barrel. gluing in a small piece of a needle with some super glue. that plastic weld only works on hard plastics.
I have had limited success with plastic weld on GI Joe. One I know didn't work was the red cage on the Cobra Fang. I suspect the red plastic is a no go for plastic weld.
The plastruct weld is meant for styrene plastic, but in my experience is dodgy even working on that. Also don't be surprised if the contents of that whole bottle has completely evaporated within a month no matter how tight you put the cap on. I bought it once and will never buy it again.
What about a combination of glue and red heat-shrink wire insulator tubing for repairing the flags? Make a sleeve or cast for the plastic bits. The repro's look great, but this might be a new solution that keeps you from waking in the middle of the night with cold sweat panics of defeat.
According to YoJoe Database, the original retail price for 1986 Cobra STUN was $6.69 US. Unfortunately, that information is n/a for 1989 Python Patrol STUN. Does anyone happen to own boxes featuring vintage price stickers? Of course, the latter vehicle didn't include a Motor-Viper. Did it really cost the exact same amount 3 years later?
